


Ten High

by sushifish



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Daryl Dixon Needs a Hug, Domestic Violence, F/M, Medical Procedures, Medical Professionals, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, POV Original Female Character, Pining, Protective Daryl Dixon, Protective Siblings, Sibling Love, Slow Burn, Slow To Update
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:07:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29981922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sushifish/pseuds/sushifish
Summary: Less than two months ago, Anna was on the fast track to becoming the youngest department head Atlanta Medical Center had ever seen. When her hospital falls quickly after the global outbreak, she has to learn what it really takes to survive in a world where the dead aren't the only thing to fear.DarylOC, the absolute slowest of burns.
Relationships: Carol Peletier/Ed Peletier, Daryl Dixon & Original Female Character(s), Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s), Lori Grimes/Rick Grimes, Lori Grimes/Shane Walsh
Comments: 12
Kudos: 16





	1. Rabid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is basically me self-indulgently posting an unfinished fic I started three years ago because I've suddenly gotten the surprising desire to rekindle it. Cross-posted to ff.net.

Anna Mason was exhausted. A thin sheen of sweat caused her once-white undershirt to cling uncomfortably to her back. The bottoms of her shoes were sticky with blood and bodily fluids – none of which belonged to her – that caused them to make a sickening _squelch_ sound against the old linoleum flooring. As she sank down into the hard plastic breakroom chair, she let her head fall into her hand. She was used to working long hours with few breaks but today was another story entirely. She was rounding out hour fourteen of what was supposed to have been a twelve-hour shift and this was the first chance she had gotten to sit down since she walked in the door the night before. Her back ached, her stomach was grumbling relentlessly and she was really, really regretting the moment she agreed to switch shifts with Higgins.

The vibration of her phone from inside the pocket of her scrubs caused Anna to lift her head again. _You coming home?_ The text read, followed immediately by, _Or do you have a hot date?_ The corner of her mouth quirked upward as she scoffed lightly. Anna couldn't even remember the last time she had gone on a date. She typed out a quick reply to her sister letting her know she was working late (again) before folding her arms on the table and resting her chin on top of them. Her eyes fluttered closed.

"Mason?"

Anna swallowed a groan as her eyes shot open and she turned toward the source of the voice. The microwave beeped behind her, signaling that the coffee she had tried to drink eight hours ago was warm once again. "Yes?"

"You alright?"

"Tired," Anna admitted as her companion, one of the other physicians on her unit, made his way over to the table and took a seat across from her. With his messy hair and generally disheveled appearance, he looked to be in the same rough shape as she was.

"Me too," he admitted. "I've never seen this many rabies cases in one town before."

"I've never seen rabies _act_ like this before," she countered. "The onset is so sudden in all of these cases; it's like a super strain or something."

It was true. Of all the patients admitted to Atlanta Medical Center's emergency department in the past twenty-four hours, eighty-three were victims of animal attacks who were showing extremely rapid onset of rabies symptoms. The hospital staff were administering HRIG and vaccinations so quickly that it made Anna's head swim. Baker reached behind him to take Anna's coffee out of the microwave, handing it to her with a small smile. She took it gratefully.

"You get the pathology report back on that 38-year old yet?"

Anna shook her head. "Pathology's not really putting a rush on it. As soon as I called for it, Miller told me I was wasting her time. I just feel like it has to be something else, you know?"

"Yeah, but if it's not rabies then what is it?"

As she opened her mouth to tell him that she had no idea, a shrill cry from down the hallway cut her off. She and Baker leapt to their feet and dashed out the door to find the source of the screaming. A small crowd had gathered around the doorway of room 241, each person wearing expressions of shock and horror. Anna and Baker pushed their way inside and found David Jones, a patient Anna had begun the rabies treatment protocol on earlier that day, violently thrashing in his hospital bed.

As she surveyed the scene, Anna's hand shot to her mouth to cover her gasp. The patient's skin was tinged faintly blue, his teeth gnashing wildly at the air. A group of nurses and CNAs had managed to wrangle his flailing arms into the restraints, but his fingernails still scratched desperately at the bed sheets. To Anna though, the most disturbing thing was the patient's eyes. Once a warm shade of brown, they were now glazed over and watery, cloudy and blue as if he had suddenly developed severe cataracts. Two residents were in the corner comforting the patient's shaking wife as she sobbed herself into hysterics.

"He bit me!" She wailed, clutching her injured wrist to her chest. "What's wrong with him? Please Doctor, do something!"

Anna gave her head a quick shake to ground herself before making her way over to the med cart one of the nurses had brought in. She fished a syringe and a vial out of one of the drawers, drawing the necessary amount into the syringe and inserting it into the patient's IV line.

"Pushing 2mg Lorazepam."

In her peripheral vision, she could see two nurses fighting to hold the patient's head steady as Baker flashed a light into the cloudy blue orbs that were his eyes. "Pupils unresponsive."

"Why isn't he calming down?" One of the residents shouted.

Anna met Baker's eyes and found that neither of them had an answer. Before she had a chance to respond, she felt a rough hand on her shoulder shove her out of the way. She found herself being pushed backward into the crowd of people as several police officers entered the room.

"Excuse me!" She shouted over the chaos, catching the attention of the officer nearest her. "You can't just barge in here and commandeer my patient. You have no right to-"

"With all due respect, Doctor," the officer cut across her as he backed her ever further out of the room. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Anna opened her mouth to protest but was met with a final harsh shove backward. The last thing she saw was an officer inspecting the wife's bite wound before the door was slammed shut in her face.

"Hey!" She shouted, slamming her palms angrily against the door. She tried the knob to no avail.

Behind her, the anxious chatter of the crowd that had formed grew ever louder. Her chest heaved as she backed away from the door, distraught and angry at what could be going on behind it. As she turned away she found herself face-to-face with Baker, whose expression matched hers.

"Anna," he began, his voice doing nothing to hide his unease. "What the hell is happening?"

* * *

Anna never did get her pathology report back, but she didn't need it to know that whatever was infecting these people, it definitely was _not_ rabies. Less than four hours after Anna failed to sedate David Jones, every radio and television in the vicinity was showing news reports of infected citizens attacking people, always with their teeth violently gnashing as they tried to sink them into the nearest source of flesh they could find. Anna was at a complete loss. She had seen patients do some frightening things while under the influence, but she had never witnessed anything like this.

Atlanta P.D. had fully infiltrated Atlanta Medical Center by dusk. While a handful of officers made their way to the morgue – where Anna had heard disturbing rumors of reanimated corpses, as if that could possibly be true – the remainder began quarantining any and all patients with anything remotely resembling a bite wound or infection. No one would tell Anna where they were being taken and after a while she stopped bothering to ask.

The following day, the news reports stopped. They were replaced by emergency broadcast notifications urging citizens to stay indoors and avoid contact with any person they suspected could be infected. The military moved into the hospital two hours later, immediately declaring the trauma center to be closed. Family members were not permitted to visit their loved ones who had been admitted and phones rang off the hook. Every single patient under Anna's care was to be quarantined, which meant that Anna and the rest of the emergency department staff were temporarily reassigned to other units. Anna, along with Baker and a handful of nurses and CNAs, were sent to the fourth floor ICU.

"Anna," Baker whispered to her as they filed down the hallway, led by an armed Lieutenant. "Have you heard from anyone on the outside?"

Anna shook her head. "No. I'm surprised Alex hasn't burned the whole building down by now trying to find me."

It was true. Anna's ex-military sister had always been on the protective side, even more so after the loss of their parents several years ago. Whatever was going on outside the hospital walls, Anna knew that Alex would be paying close attention. She had been checking her phone as often as she could, hoping to hear something from her sister, but each time she found nothing. It was only recently that she realized she had completely lost her cell signal.

"What about you? Have you heard anything?"

"No," Baker frowned and Anna could see the concern in his eyes. "I called my wife and father-in-law twelve times before the lines went down and no one answered. I just hope they're okay."

Anna wanted to say something to comfort him but found herself coming up short. They were effectively cut off from whatever was going on outside the hospital walls, their only source of information being the armed soldiers who refused to tell them anything. Occasionally someone was able to sneak a glance out of one of the windows in a patient's room, but for the most part the soldiers kept the curtains tightly drawn. For a time, the days and nights dragged on in organized chaos. The staff slept in shifts, never more than an hour or two at a time. Tensions were high and the anxiety was palpable, but everyone seemed to content themselves with the knowledge that they were in the safest place they could possibly be.

By the fifth day, there was talk of a safe zone being set up somewhere inside the city. The next few days saw patients being evacuated with painful slowness, one floor at a time. Anna spent her time preparing her patients for evacuation, making sure they were in the best possible condition for transport and had all their necessary medications and dressings ready to go. She sat with some of her elderly patients, holding their hands and listening to stories of years long past to distract both of them from what was going on in the present.

When Anna woke from her brief sleep on the eighth day, any remnant of organization that was left had dissipated. The entire hospital, or at least the fourth floor ICU, had devolved into total chaos. The shouting was what woke her and when she opened the door that led to the hallway, she found broken glass, debris and medications scattered across the floor. The lights overhead flickered on and off, adding to the chaos. She saw patients and staff alike running through the corridors, some nursing wounds while others just seemed frantic. Anna tried to stop a few people to ask them what was going on but everyone refused to acknowledge her. Orders were being barked as people screamed. As she rounded a corner, Anna finally saw a familiar face.

"Baker!" She cried, her eyes immediately flying to an angry cut on his temple. "What's happening? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied, grabbing her by the arm and turning her back the way she had come. "We need to get out of here."

"How? Aren't they guarding all of the doors?"

"We have to at least try," his voice was becoming more frantic and Anna could feel her heartbeat rising in response. "While you were asleep a bunch of people broke through the barricades on the ground floor, trying to get to their loved ones or find shelter or- I don't know, it doesn't matter. But a bunch of the infected got in and now the whole building's compromised."

He yanked her into a darkened hallway as a trio of soldiers passed by, guns at the ready. Anna's heart pounded against her sternum so loudly she was sure they would hear it. Baker turned to her again.

"They're shooting anyone they think might be infected," he whispered. "Or maybe just anyone they see. I can't really tell anymore. Either way, it's safer to just stay clear of them."

When he felt it was safe, Baker peeked his head around the corner and gestured to Anna that the coast was clear. She followed him down the long series of hallways until they ended up at the far end of the unit, near the employee elevators. Anna swiped her badge to get the doors to open but Baker swatted her hand away.

"It's too risky," he chastised. "The power keeps going on and off. The last thing you want is to get stuck in an elevator, especially with one of them."

Anna nodded that she understood but in truth, her head was swimming. How could the military be shooting unarmed civilians? Why would they want to harm the hospital staff? What happened to evacuating patients to the safe zone? She had a thousand questions that needed answers and no time with which to ask them. Baker was already throwing open the door to the stairwell and from that point forward, time seemed to pass in slow motion.

Looking back on it later, Anna could never be entirely sure which hit her first: the sound of the shot or the splattering of blood across her face. Her stomach and heart went clattering to the floor at the same time Baker's body did, all three of them landing in a crumpled heap at her feet. She opened her mouth to let out a cry but was met with silence instead, though it was possible she just couldn't hear it over the ringing in her ears.

Anna could name every single piece of the brain involved in the fight-or-flight response. She could spend hours explaining why the body diverts blood flow from some of its parts to send to the muscles instead, or how the body knows to get a jump start on speeding up the clotting process in case of an injury. But in that moment, something somewhere in her sympathetic nervous system failed. She couldn't run and she couldn't fight; she could do nothing but stand rooted to the spot, the blood in her veins turning to ice and keeping her frozen in place.

She saw one of the soldiers standing in front of her, his gun raised in her direction. Her eyes snapped shut reflexively and she stumbled backward as she heard the shot ring out, sending herself sprawling across the dirty linoleum – but she felt nothing. Vaguely she wondered if she had imagined the entire thing but she was too afraid to open her eyes and find out.

"Fucking finally," a voice grumbled and when Anna's eyes shot open, she saw someone stepping over the bodies of Baker and the soldier and sliding a pistol back into the holster on their hip. "I've been looking for you for hours."

"Alex?" Anna asked, incredulous. "How did you get in here?"

"Magic," her sister replied sarcastically as she extended a hand to help Anna to her feet. "When that crowd broke through the barricade at the front door late last night, I slipped in with them. They had the whole ED blocked off so I've been working my way up, sweeping all the floors looking for you."

Anna blinked to try and clear her head as Alex flipped the dead soldier over and relieved him of his rifle. Her attention turned to Baker's lifeless form and she felt her stomach turn circles inside her body. She had seen countless gunshot victims during her time in the medical field but there was no class or clinical or residency in the world that could have prepared her for seeing her co-worker and friend murdered right in front of her.

"Come on," Alex said, forcing Anna's gaze away. "We need to get out of here. Take this."

She pulled a gun from the waistband of her pants and shoved it into Anna's hands, already making her way back down the stairwell before Anna could even protest.

"Alex!" She whisper-shouted in the darkness as she followed after her, worried that more soldiers might hear them. "You know I don't-"

"Yeah well, you've gotta learn sometime, right?" Alex countered, taking the steps two at a time. "The little lever on the side is the safety; make sure it's pushed all the way down when you're ready to use it. Then just point and squeeze, and try not to hit me."

Under normal circumstances, Anna would have rolled her eyes. "I don't really think that constitutes a less-"

Alex's sudden halt silenced Anna in a heartbeat. She motioned for Anna to move closer to the wall as she did the same, her rifle poised and ready. They were halfway between the second and third floors, Anna realized, but below them she could hear heavy footsteps and voices.

"Through here," came a man's order. "I think I saw one of them head this way."

Just a few feet below them, Anna could see two of the soldiers heading through the doorway to the second floor. She held her breath as she waited and, once they were satisfied that the soldiers were gone, the sisters continued on their way. In the dim lighting Anna could see blood splattered across her sister's clothing, although she had a distinct feeling that it didn't belong to her.

"Where are we going?" Anna asked in a low voice. "The safe zone?"

"Safe zone?" Alex repeated as they made their way down the final flight of steps. "What safe zone?"

They paused at the heavy metal door that led to the outside. Vaguely Anna knew that they were at the back of the building but she couldn't say exactly where. "There's a safe zone somewhere in the city. They've been evacuating patients there for the past few days."

Alex swore under her breath. Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out two surgical masks.

"Look, Anna," she began, her voice uneasy. "I don't know what exactly they told you but there is no safe zone. And the patients, they-" she shook her head. "Just put this on. The smell is awful."

Anna wanted to ask what smell she was talking about but her sister was already shoving the mask into her hands. Once it was secure, Alex threw open the door to the outside. Anna practically recoiled at how bright the sunlight was after being inside for so long. It pierced through her eyelids like a hot knife but still felt welcome on her skin. She blinked a few times to clear the dots from her vision but once she finally focused, she wished she hadn't.

She recognized the lot before her as a loading and unloading area for deliveries and biohazardous waste, but there were no trailers or delivery vehicles in sight. For the entire length of the lot, all Anna could see were piles upon piles of bodies. There had to have been hundreds, thousands of them piled up like garbage. There were tarps and sheets haphazardly thrown over some of the bodies but they did little to conceal the effects of decay. As her eyes scanned the rows and rows of corpses in front of her, past the clouds of flies that were buzzing about incessantly, she could see maggots wiggling inside of open wounds. Some of the corpses bore the bite wounds Anna had grown so accustomed to seeing lately, but every single one that Anna could count had one thing in common – a gunshot wound to the head. She had to swallow hard to hold back a sob and force down the bile that was rising in her throat. Was this what they meant when they said they were evacuating her patients? Were they really just taking them out here to be murdered?

"Come on," Alex said as she gave her a tug, her voice muffled through the mask that did little to ward off the stench of death. "Stay close to me."

Anna nodded, feeling dumbstruck as she made her way out into the horror of the scene in front of her. For over a week she had been entirely in the dark about what was happening outside of the hospital walls but as she and her sister stepped out into the familiar Atlanta streets, she knew that was all about to change.

* * *

Thirty-four days later, Anna would have given almost anything to be back at that hospital with her sister. Or at least, she thought it was thirty-four days.

Late summer Georgia heat clung to her like a second skin, her once-white t-shirt so coated with dirt and dried sweat that it looked more brown and grey than anything. Her blistered feet ached from inside her worn shoes, the soles hanging on by a few bare threads and the sheer will of a god she wasn't even sure she believed in anymore. The palms of her hands were so calloused and torn she could barely even feel the handle of the little hatchet she held. Her body ached all over, her head pounding so hard that she was legitimately concerned her skull might burst. Twinges of nausea colored her uneasy stomach and she silently pleaded that she wouldn't be sick again. And god, her mouth was dry.

Two days after they left Atlanta Medical Center, Anna and her sister had holed up fairly comfortably on the outskirts of the city. Alex had managed to gather up a decent supply of weapons and medical necessities, something Anna was grateful for as she knew she was little help in the scavenging department. They took up shelter in an abandoned mom and pop shop that had already been picked clean by the time they arrived, but had two fairly secure exits and it was off the main path. For a few hours Anna even let herself believe that things might be okay but whatever hope she had left burned up that night along with her city, awash in the glow of napalm.

Alex led them further from Atlanta the following morning with Alabama on her mind. They planned to follow I-85 across the border to the I-65 split, letting it carry them down toward the coast with the option to stop off in some smaller towns like Georgiana and Andalusia along the way. Alex figured having the water at their backs would give them a little more security and they could always hop around to Miramar Beach to the east or Pascagoula to the west if Alabama didn't suit them. "Besides," Alex had reasoned, "No one _wants_ to go to Alabama." Anna almost smiled as she remembered the comment but it was quickly replaced by a bitter thought about how quickly those plans were thrown to the wind. They'd hardly made it past East Point before they ran into a small group of three men, one of whom was nursing napalm burns on his leg. Alex tried to convince her sister to let them be but Anna was insistent, something she would come to regret for the rest of her presumably short life.

The men led Alex and Anna back to their campsite under the guise of expressing their thanks in the form of food, something Anna was naïve to insist they accept. The two-hour detour turned into two weeks, which was one number Anna was certain she had right. She spent every second of that time cursing herself for being such an idiot, for letting her need to help override her sister's sense of survival, and for getting them trapped in a situation where they were outnumbered, overpowered, and virtually helpless. Her own naivety was what got them stuck and, she noted bitterly, it was what ended up costing Anna her sister.

After that, the hours ran into days that ran into weeks and she'd lost track of the date and time and mostly everything else after she lost Alex and found herself well and truly on her own. Truthfully, she was surprised she'd even made it that long. The first few days were the hardest, both physically and mentally, but after a while she finally made it far enough away from the city that the dead ones had started becoming fewer and further between. Most days she only ran into a handful, often less, and she found it relatively easy to avoid them if she stayed quiet and was careful not to draw attention to herself. At this point, it wasn't so much the dead she was worried about anyway.

She frowned at the thought, her fingers twitching slightly over the handle of the pistol at her hip. There were three bullets in the magazine that held fifteen and one in the chamber - she knew that much, at least. Well that, how to turn the safety off, and – in her sister's words – how to make it go _bang_. The corners of her mouth fell deeper into a frown as she thought about all the times she had turned down offers from Alex and their dad to go hunting, opting instead to stay inside and study or watch tv or pour over the latest copy of Teen Beat. She would have given anything to go back and do it over, to hone some skills that would actually help her survive the hellhole the world had become, but there was no point in wishing for anything anymore. She supposed there was a large part of her that always assumed Alex would be there to protect her, the last woman standing at the end of the whole world. There was a twinge deep in her chest and she knew she had to push the thought away. She didn't have enough strength left in her to cry, not now.

One foot made its way in front of the other as she shuffled through the overgrown grass of whatever Georgia forest she'd found herself in. She was thankful for the trees at least, for whatever bit of cover they provided. Her sunburn from the week prior - or at least, she thought it was a week - had finally healed and peeled to the point that she wasn't in pain anymore, and that was an extra nuisance she really didn't want to have to endure again. A part of her did miss the direct sunlight though, if for nothing else than giving her a vague inclination about the direction she was heading in. Not that it really mattered if she was going north or west or to the goddamn ocean, really. Knowing how to get to where she was going only mattered if she actually had a destination in mind other than "far away."

She heaved a heavy sigh as she paused to lean against the thick trunk of a nearby tree to catch her breath. She slid the pack off of her back to give her shoulders some much needed relief. As she wiped the sweat from her forehead, she fought the urge to pull her canteen from the pack, knowing full well that it was as bone dry as it had been the last six times she had given into the urge to check it. The bark of the tree was rough beneath her head, the jagged edges catching on strands of her hair and yanking them free from the tie holding the mess off of her neck. She could feel it scratch down her back as she let herself slide to the ground, her legs suddenly losing whatever ability they had left to support her weight. The lids of her eyes felt heavier than they ever had and she cursed herself for stopping in the first place. Yes, she was exhausted; she hadn't slept for more than an hour or so at a time since- well, since she still thought she was dealing with the world's most severe rabies outbreak.

She felt half-drunk as she struggled to keep herself awake, her eye lids suddenly feeling as though there were ten-pound weights dragging them downward. Even her mind felt hazy, the combination of heat and exhaustion and lack of food and water causing every part of her body to work on overdrive. She couldn't sleep, she told herself. Not here. Not now. But although she called on every last bit of willpower she had to keep them open, she had no strength left to fight as her eyelids fluttered closed and left the world around her cloaked in a curtain of solid black.

How long Anna stayed that way, she couldn't even begin to say. When she woke it was with a violent start and a gasp, her mind immediately convinced that she was going to look to her feet and find a member of the dead gnawing on one of her limbs. Her heart beat so viciously inside of her body that she was worried it would break right out of its cage. Hastily she jumped to her feet, hatchet in hand as she spun in a quick 360 to survey her surroundings. She regretted it immediately. She could hardly even tell the leaves from the ground from the tree trunks as her vision swam and her head whirled. She blinked rapidly to try and clear the haze but to no avail. The imbalance in her equilibrium caused her to stumble backward and her nausea to return tenfold. She let out a groan as her stomach flipped over and over, her head seeming to match it each time. She had to put her hands on her knees to try and steady herself, though she was worried the ground was going to come rushing up to meet her.

When Anna heard the first twig snap in two, her heart might as well have done the same. Her spine straightened in an instant and she felt herself go rigid, the all too familiar fear creeping once again up the back of her neck. For a moment she only listened, her vision clearing but still too hazy for her to properly see. Silently she prayed for it to just be an animal, or a figment of her imagination, or even one of the infected – anything other than what she feared most. She held her breath as she waited, willing herself to stay calm. She couldn't let herself fall into the hands of another group of people like the one she'd been stuck with before. She couldn't go through that again. She wouldn't.

A lifetime seemed to pass in the course of a few seconds, but then she heard it. The sound was far enough in the distance to still be fairly faint but there was no mistaking the man's voice.

"I swear I saw it! Just yesterday, a deer right over there."

"Man, you didn't see nothing. Those two hunters haven't seen a deer the whole time they've been here. You trying to tell me you know more about hunting than those guys?"

If Anna thought her heart was pounding before, it was nothing compared to the bass beat it was currently hammering into her breastbone. She could feel the panic all the way down in her fingertips, a frantic tingling that left her devoid of nearly all sense of reason. She tried to take a deep breath to calm herself but it was hardly a drop in the sea of distress washing over her. She snapped her head side to side again as she tried to find a place to hide, but there was nothing. Anna let her head fall back in frustration and it hit the bark of the tree with an angry thud.

Realization dawned on her and she stepped away from the tree trunk and turned to face it, her gaze drawing upward to take in the structure. She reached down to grab her pack from the ground and swung it onto her back. She stepped closer to the tree and stood on her tiptoes, reaching her hand up as high as she could toward the lowest hanging branch but she couldn't quite reach it. Anna took in a deep breath as she closed her eyes again, trying to muster whatever bit of strength she had left. On the exhale she launched herself upward with as much force as she could, her arms just barely able to lock around the branch. For a moment she hung there unsure of what to do next. Even without the burden of exhaustion, Anna knew she lacked the upper body strength necessary to pull herself up; however, she was able to use the trunk as leverage, swinging her legs up and pushing against it with her feet to give herself the boost she needed to make it onto the branch.

Anna could hear the voices drawing closer and knew she was still too low to the ground. Her vision turned blurry once again as she hoisted herself up onto a higher branch, satisfied that she had put enough distance between herself and whoever might cross her path. She dropped her head so her forehead rested against the tree limb as she waited, trying desperately to ward off the dizziness once again. She could hear the men more clearly now and made the mistake of opening her eyes. The ground beneath her suddenly looked much closer than the fifteen or so feet away it really was and it seemed to move closer and then away again in rapid succession. She could feel bile rising in the back of her throat once more and forced herself to swallow it back down.

 _Please_ , she silently begged the men as she saw their figures come into view. _Just keep walking._

"I'm just saying," one of them remarked. "It'd be nice to have some meat that's not squirrel, you know?"

It was the last thing Anna heard before she felt herself slip sideways off of the branch and the world around her careened into black once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very special thanks to my dear friend and beta-adjacent BouncingKappa, without whom all of my Nicholas Sparks-esque ideas would remain unchecked, and to BravoZver, who is the Teddy to my Bob Belcher and whose incredibly badass OC inspired Anna's sister Alex.


	2. High Slung

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An incredibly special thanks to my amazing friend and beta-adjacent BouncingKappa, who never fails to catch the tiny details I get super excited about but worry no one else will notice.

Anna woke up feeling like she had been hit by a freight train. That, or she was coming off of the most intense night of drinking of her entire life. Her head pounded with the force of a bass drum and if she didn't know better, she would have thought her skull was going to crack in two. She let out a groan as she tried to roll over but was met with a searing pain in her left shoulder. She could feel her left arm secured in front of her in some kind of makeshift sling, though she noted that it was too loose to be of any benefit. What in the world happened to her? As the memories came flooding back to her in a rush, her eyes shot open and she was met with two bright blue orbs staring back at her. For a moment she sat frozen, locked into the gaze. She watched the eyes widen in realization, followed by a shout.

"Mom!" Anna winced as the sound hit her ears, worsening the pounding between them. "Mom, she's awake!"

Anna grimaced again as she used her right arm to push herself into a sitting position and tried to take in her surroundings. She saw a woman, presumably the mother of the boy who was shouting, come rushing over to them from where she had been standing at a sink on the far side of the room.

"Good job, honey," the woman responded in a gentle but urgent tone. "Can you go get Shane for me?"

The boy nodded and Anna watched him run toward the two front seats and out the door as though he had just been given the most important mission in the entire world. She blinked as she took in the table across from her with two booth-style seats. If she faced them she could see a small hallway that led to a bathroom and bedroom on her left and a big windshield on her right. A series of framed photographs decorated the walls along with a large wooden sign above the sink that proudly declared, "I'd rather be fishing." Her brow furrowed in confusion. She was in someone's RV?

"Hey," the woman said in a low voice as she hurried over to sit on the edge of the makeshift bed Anna was sitting on. She recoiled instinctively and the woman held up her hands in an attempt to calm her down. "Wait, please, I'm not going to hurt you."

She picked up an old camper mug from the table across from them and held it out to Anna. When the latter eyed it warily, the woman continued, "It's only water. Please, you've been out for a while; you need to drink."

Anna could feel herself becoming hyper-aware of the burning in her throat at the woman's words. She took the mug wordlessly and sipped from it, relishing the feel of the liquid as it soothed her sore throat.

"My name is Lori Grimes," the woman continued. "That was my son Carl. What's your name?"

Anna regarded her over the rim of the mug. The woman before her was tall and slender, her long brown hair the same color as her son's. She was waiting expectantly for Anna's answer, two large brown eyes fixed on Anna's own. She was very pretty, Anna noted, even at the end of the world. There was a kindness in her eyes that wasn't lost on the doctor, though it did little to quell the dull ache of fear in her chest.

"Anna," she replied finally, her voice sounding foreign from disuse.

Lori nodded at her, seemingly grateful that she had responded at all. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I- yeah, sort of. I guess I fell out of a tree. Where am I? How long was I out?"

"You're in an RV at our camp about twenty miles west of Atlanta. Two of our men found you out in the woods and brought you here three days ago."

"Three days?" Anna blanched. She could feel her heartbeat quickening at Lori's words, the old familiar fear boiling the blood in her veins. A cold sweat beaded on the back of her neck in spite of the perpetually warm Georgia air. "This is a camp? How many of you are there?"

"Quite a few," Lori replied, a confused look passing across her features at Anna's visibly growing anxiety. "We set up out here about three weeks ago. Most of us met up on I-85 trying to get into the city to the refugee center."

Anna had to fight back a scoff at the mention of the supposed refugee center in Atlanta. All it did now was serve as a reminder of where she had come from, what she had left behind, and everything she had already lost since the virus outbreak hardly more than a month ago.

"Okay," she said after a long pause, ignoring the ache in her shoulder as she stood. Lori matched her movement. "Well, I appreciate you guys not, you know, leaving me to die in the woods but I really think I should be on my way. If you could just hand me my pack I-"

"No, please!" Lori cried, reaching a hand out toward the other woman and causing her to flinch away from the contact. She steadied her voice and tried again. "Please, you aren't fully healed yet. You need to rest. We have food and there's a lake nearby and-"

The loud _bang_ of the RV door as it was thrown open cut her off. Anna nearly jumped out of her skin as a man in a sheriff's uniform entered, his dark eyes finding her immediately. Though he stood several feet from her, Anna could tell that he would easily tower over her smaller frame and she felt herself shrink beneath his gaze.

"Shane," Lori began from her place beside him. She kept her voice low and even, as though she was afraid she would startle Anna and cause her to run off like a frightened rabbit – which, to be fair, was a logical assumption. "This is Anna."

"Anna," he repeated, his voice a deep southern drawl. She had the vague inclination that he was using the same tone as he did when he had to talk people off of ledges before the world ended. "Well it's nice to meet you, Anna. I'm Officer Shane Walsh from the King County Sheriff's Department."

Anna recognized King County as a fairly rural area on the border of Fulton County, of which Atlanta sat at the center. She couldn't remember if she had ever been there before but she supposed it didn't really matter. Neither of them said anything for a moment as they regarded each other, him waiting for a response and her waiting to see if she was going to be able to leave, as he was effectively blocking her exit whether he intended to or not. When the tense silence was finally broken, it was by Lori.

"I was just telling Anna about how Glenn and T-Dog brought her back here."

"Oh," Shane perked up at the mention of what happened to her, seeming to stand up a bit straighter as he continued. "Yeah, you took a hell of a tumble there. It's a good thing those two broke your fall or you probably would've ended up with a lot worse than a fractured shoulder blade. They brought you back here and I made you that sling, cleaned those scrapes up for you; you've been out ever since."

Anna blinked at him for a moment before turning her gaze down to the arm in question. Lifting her good arm, she slid her fingers underneath the discolored collar of her shirt, feeling around on her back to see if she felt any flattening, but there was nothing. Her fingers moved toward her shoulder and she could feel the inflammation immediately, her skin warm to the touch from more than just the Georgia heat. She could tell that it was swollen and likely bruised, much like the rest of her probably was as well. She took a deep breath and looked back up at Shane, her fingers moving instead to slide the makeshift sling over her head and off of her arm.

"You made this?"

"He did," Lori answered for him, the prideful note in her voice not lost on Anna. "We don't have a nurse here or anything but Shane had a little bit of medical training at the sheriff's department."

"Well," Anna replied, biting the inside of her cheek as she tried to choose her words carefully. She was painfully aware of her tendency to come off as a bit, well, insufferably arrogant whenever she spoke on a topic she considered herself knowledgeable about. In the end, she failed miserably. "No offense Officer, but you didn't do a very good job. That sling was too loose to do any good and besides, my scapula's not fractured."

She spun around so Shane and Lori could see her back and used her good hand to gesture to her shoulder blade. "See how you can still see it sticking out there? If it was fractured that would almost always be flat. But see here," she turned back around to face them and pointed to her shoulder. "This is swollen to high heaven and you can feel how hot it is if you touch it. If you poked around up by my collar bone you'd be able to feel that my shoulder is partially dislocated."

Shane opened his mouth to respond but Anna cut him off. "Lori, can you help me?"

Lori blinked rapidly a few times as though she was snapping herself out of a trance before moving to Anna's side.

"I just need you to help support this arm and move it upward slowly. We need to keep the elbow pointing out like this and we want the hand to end up behind my head, like a baseball player winding up to throw a pitch."

For a moment Anna felt as though she was back in the hospital instructing wide-eyed pre-med students on how to tend to basic injuries. Lori did exactly as Anna explained and it wasn't long before she felt her shoulder slide back into place with a faint _pop_. Relief washed over her and she brought her hand up to massage her shoulder, rotating it slowly as she did.

"Thanks," she said to Lori before turning her attention back to Shane. "Nice to meet you, Officer. My name is Annalise Mason and I was just leaving."

Without bothering to ask for her pack again, Anna moved to push past Shane and head out the door. Mentally she kicked herself for possibly offending the very intimidating-looking man in the room while also probably coming off as a pompous know-it-all. There was no sense in dwelling on it though; she had no interest in sticking around for whatever their responses would be, although she found that she had little choice in the matter. Her fingers had just brushed the doorknob when she felt a calloused hand close around her wrist. Shane's grip was firm without being painful but it still sent shockwaves of unease up her spine. Once he'd spun her back around to face them, he let her go.

"Wait, before you go running off just hear us out, please."

Anna regarded him for a moment as she considered his request. He was standing near enough to the door that he could easily block her exit again, though she noted that he chose not to. She tried to gauge what set her so on edge; was it something about him specifically or just the fact that he was a strange man at the breakdown of civilization? Shane reminded her of a lot of the officers she had dealt with in the past for one reason or another. He exuded the aura of a confident guy, a man's man who maybe bordered on arrogant but she was clearly guilty of the same thing now and again.

He waited for Anna to protest and when she said nothing, he continued. "None of our people have any kind of medical experience; clearly mine ain't up to par. We could really use a doctor around camp. We got kids, Carl and a couple others, and some elderly too. It'd be real nice to have someone around here who knows what they're doing beyond patching up some scraped knees."

Anna warred with herself as she tried to weigh the pros and cons of her situation. She was hesitant to link up with any group of people after what happened the last time, but she also knew that it was only a matter of time before she couldn't make it on her own anymore. She had no hunting skills, no significant way to protect herself, no tracking experience or even concrete knowledge of how to figure out which way she was headed without a map in front of her. She had no clue how she had survived on her own for as long as she did, but she knew she wouldn't be that lucky – if you wanted to call it that – forever. But could she really run the risk of joining another group?

Anna let her eyes flicker from Shane to Lori and back again. "I don't know," she admitted finally. "It's not personal, I just… The last time I was with a group…"

She let her voice trail off and Lori regarded her softly, as a mother would despite their probable closeness in age. "You lost people," she finished for her and Anna didn't have the heart or will to correct her.

"Something like that, yeah."

"How about we show you around," Shane offered. "Let you get a feel for things. Supper should be ready soon anyway. You can stay in the RV tonight and if you still want to leave in the morning, we'll give you some supplies to help you out."

There was a part of Anna that still wanted to protest. What if these people were just like the others? As she diverted her gaze from Shane, she saw Lori looking at her with soft hopefulness. Anna swallowed hard to shove her nervousness back down as a faint whisper rose in the back of her mind – _What if they weren't?_

"Okay," she agreed, though hesitantly. "I- Yeah, okay."

The relief that washed over the two of them was palpable. Shane gave her an endearing crooked smile and Lori's face split into a wide grin, making her look even prettier than she did before. Anna suddenly became acutely aware of how absolutely feral she probably looked and she could feel the sharp twinge of self-consciousness burning beneath her skin. Seeming to read her mind, Lori took her hand and this time Anna didn't pull away.

"Why don't we go down to the lake first so you can wash up? Glenn brought us back a whole box of those travel-sized shampoo bottles the other day."

She didn't give Anna time to respond as Shane held the door open for them and the two women descended the stairs, Lori's hand still firmly wrapped around hers.

* * *

Anna was amazed at what a travel-sized bottle of Pantene and a bar of soap could do for her spirit. Lori had managed to gather up some clean clothes for her to wear and she found herself feeling almost human for the first time in what seemed like forever. Though the jeans and simple grey t-shirt were a bit ill-fitting, both being just the tiniest bit too baggy on her malnourished frame, she was grateful to finally be rid of the grimy clothes she had been stuck with since setting out on her own. She washed her hair twice to rid the strands of the thick layer of grime that coated them, feeling almost silly as she remembered how she used to be so adamant about having the color touched up every eight weeks on the dot. She let the damp locks hang heavily down her back, though there was a part of her that considered chopping them all off just to have the slightest bit of relief from the sticky Georgia heat. She found herself acutely aware of the sunken hollows of her cheeks and the angry dark circles beneath her eyes, but she knew they would even back out once she was able to get some nutrients again. She could smell the scent of whatever was cooking back at camp even from their place all the way down at the lake and her stomach grumbled forcefully in response.

Lori smiled at her. "Come on, I'll show you around camp and then we can eat."

Anna nodded in response and the two headed back up the hill to where Shane had stood guard. He led them across the grass to where the first few tents were set up, each one relatively close to the other but still far enough apart to offer some measure of privacy. The RV she found herself in earlier sat off to the side and she noticed there was a chair set up on top of it, presumably for someone to keep lookout. Near it were an old pickup truck, a Jeep and a Triumph Bonneville that looked like it had seen better days. Anna would be the first to admit that she didn't know a thing about cars beyond changing a flat tire or checking her oil, but her father had been a lover of motorcycles and she'd frequently found herself tagging along to shops and shows when she was a child. Though she had never driven one herself, she used to love riding on the back of her dad's old Honda. The sight of the bike brought back some fond memories for her, save for the angry Nazi insignia emblazoned on its gas tank.

"Shane! Lori!"

Anna recognized the voice as belonging to one of the men from the woods. When she turned, she saw the man jogging over to them. He looked young, maybe in his early twenties, but Anna had a feeling he was a little older than he looked. His dark hair was hidden beneath a baseball cap and he greeted her with a small wave.

"T-Dog wanted me to let you guys know dinner is ready. Also hey, I'm Glenn."

"Anna," she replied, raising her hand in response. "I recognize your voice."

"Oh yeah, it was me and T-Dog who brought you back here," He scratched the back of his neck a bit sheepishly. "We kind of, uh, broke your fall."

"Literally," Shane added with a smirk. "You fell right on top of them."

The fire rushed to Anna's cheeks so quickly her face practically burst into flames. "Oh god, I'm really sorry. Were you guys okay?"

Glenn shrugged good-naturedly and flashed a grin. "Yeah, it was no big deal. We're just glad you're alright."

"Yo!" Came a shout from across the common area. "Y'all gonna come eat or just stand around talking all day? 'Cause I'll take your share if you don't want it!"

"Better go," Lori murmured to her as the four of them made their way to where the rest of the camp had congregated near the fire. "I don't think you can afford to miss another meal."

Anna's stomach let out an angry growl again and when they neared the fire, she took the bowl that was handed to her gratefully. There were a series of logs set up as makeshift seats around a fire that was burning low, the embers glowing with the same yellows and oranges as the evening sky. She took a seat next to Lori as the smell of what looked like stew wafted through the air. Logically she knew she needed to pace herself; after going so long without eating anything of substance, consuming too much too quickly could cause her to get sick. Still, that didn't stop her from shoveling the food into her mouth greedily. She hardly took a breath as she ate, relishing the knowledge that she was finally getting the nutrients her body so desperately needed.

"Hey Dixon," Shane commented, breaking an uncomfortable silence Anna didn't even realize had fallen over the group. "Looks like we finally found someone who appreciates your squirrel."

Anna's cheeks flushed again from behind her bowl, though in the waning light she was hopeful no one could really tell. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand awkwardly, acutely aware that all eyes were on her. From the other side of the fire, she saw a pair of dark blue eyes latch onto hers. She fought the urge to shrink under the intensity of his gaze.

"Yeah well," the man grunted, moving his eyes back to his meal. "'Bout time."

"Oh please," one of the women to Anna's right rolled her eyes. She was a blonde woman with high cheekbones and striking eyes who looked to be about Anna's age. "No one except Dixon _likes_ squirrel. The poor thing's just starving."

"This actually isn't my first squirrel, believe it or not," Anna offered, unintentionally shifting the focus back to herself.

"No?" The woman quirked an eyebrow in response. "My condolences to your stomach."

Anna shrugged. "My daddy hunted quite a bit when I was growing up, so we had it from time to time. It's definitely been a while though."

"Since before you were dropping out of trees and scaring brothers half to death?" One of the men to her left joked as he tried to hide a grin. She assumed he must have been T-Dog.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. I hope I didn't hurt you."

He waved his hand dismissively. "Nah, just a mild heart attack is all."

"Yeah, pretty sure you gave all of us a good scare," Shane added as he cast her a questioning look. "Certainly did a number on that shoulder of yours. How's it feeling?"

Anna had the unfortunate suspicion that she knew where this was headed. "It's okay," she replied, choosing her words carefully. "Sore."

"Just sore?" Shane pressed, leaning in closer. "You had a dislocated shoulder sitting untreated for three days and it ain't nothing but sore?"

"Untreated?" The blonde woman from before repeated incredulously. "I thought you said her shoulder blade was fractured. Didn't you make her that sling?"

"Yeah," Shane drawled with the faintest hint of sheepishness. "Turns out my diagnostic skills ain't quite up to snuff."

"Well if her shoulder was dislocated," the woman continued. "Who set it?"

"She did," Shane replied, nodding to her. "With Lori's help. Hardly even flinched."

" _You_ reset your own shoulder?" The woman echoed Shane once again. She regarded her for a moment before crossing her arms and leaning backward slightly. "I've got to say, that's badass; I'm impressed."

Anna opened her mouth to argue that it really wasn't all that impressive, but Shane was cutting her off. "That makes two of us. But it does make me wonder, where'd a girl like you learn how to do something like that?"

Anna hoped the dying light at least partially concealed the look of disdain on her face. There was no part of her that wanted to reveal to this group of veritable strangers that she had any medical expertise whatsoever. Medical knowledge was an invaluable trait these days and there was a part of her – a massive part, if she was being honest – that worried that if these people found out she was a doctor, she would never be allowed to leave. But what choice did she have in the matter? Whether intentionally or not, Shane had backed her into a corner. Should she lie? Could she even do so well enough to make them believe it?

Anna sighed. "It's what I did," she said finally by way of explanation. "Before."

"Oh," the woman spoke again as realization seemed to dawn on her. "Were you a nurse?"

Anna had to fight the instinctive urge to roll her eyes. If she had a dollar for every time someone assumed she was a nurse, she would have been able to pay off that crippling student loan debt a long time ago. She had always been intensely appreciative of all the nurses, CNAs, phlebotomists and medical technicians who worked alongside her at the hospital, but it never ceased to amaze her how so many people seemed to jump to the conclusion that she held one of those titles instead.

"No," she replied simply. "Not a nurse."

"Come on," Shane prodded. "You gotta give us more to go off of here. I think we're all wanting to know who you are – or were."

Anna's frown deepened as she realized she had little choice other than to tell the truth. She cleared her throat. "I'm, uh, Dr. Annalise Mason – just Anna though, please. I worked in Atlanta Medical Center's emergency department."

The excited murmurs rose up around her right on cue and she cast her gaze back down to the bowl in her hand to avoid meeting any of the eyes that were burning holes into her skin. Anna was thankful for the relative cover of darkness that helped her avoid their expectant looks. Her heart sank at their collective response. Anna couldn't blame them for being excited at having a medical professional in their midst but for her, all it did was further her awareness of just how vulnerable her current position was. She tried to focus on the sound of the fire crackling to distract her from the thousand questions being thrown her way, but one stood out above the rest.

"You're a doctor?"

Anna turned toward the source of the voice and found the same wide blue eyes she'd woken up to. She nodded at Lori's son.

"Wow," he breathed. "That's so cool. Did you ever have to fix someone who got shot?"

"Carl!" Lori admonished and the boy looked immediately regretful. "That's not something you should ask someone."

"It's okay," Anna assured her. She turned back to Carl. "I saw a lot of gunshot victims. The hospital I worked at was a level one trauma center – that means we were better equipped to deal with serious injuries, so a lot of the patients who needed very intensive care came to us."

"Woah," Carl was watching her with wide eyes as if he was meeting his favorite celebrity for the first time. "So you guys were like, the best?"

Anna couldn't help but smile at him. "I'm sure the other hospitals wouldn't want to hear you say it, but yes."

Carl opened his mouth to say something else but Lori cut across him, apologizing profusely. "I'm so sorry. Carl's father Rick was Shane's partner at the sheriff's department; he was shot on duty not long before all of this started happening. He didn't make it."

"Oh," Anna blinked at them in surprise. That certainly was not something she expected to hear. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

Despite catching her entirely off guard, Carl's question at least served to put a stopper in the flow of questions that had been coming her way. A strained silence fell over the group instead and Anna busied herself with moving the spoon around her empty bowl absently, if for no other reason than to give herself something to do with her hands. Her heart pounded violently inside her chest as she waited for the barrage of demands for her to stay, but the silence continued instead. When someone finally spoke, it was a man to Anna's left with a wide-brimmed fisherman's hat that covered a head of white hair.

"If you don't mind me asking," he began gently. "What was a doctor from the city doing up in a tree in the middle of the woods?"

Anna frowned as she set her spoon inside her bowl and laid them both on the ground in front of her. How could she tell a group of strangers she wasn't even sure she trusted yet that she was trying to avoid ending up in this exact situation?

"Hiding," she said finally and gestured to T-Dog and Glenn. "From them."

"You were hiding? From _us_?" Glenn repeated in shock, looking half-offended. "Why?"

"Well I mean, we are pretty intimidating," T-Dog countered.

"Maybe you're intimidating," Glenn mumbled. "I'm nice."

"I'm sorry," Anna explained and she was a little surprised that she truly meant it. "It wasn't anything personal. I just- I fell in with a bad group after I left Atlanta and I didn't want to risk that happening again."

Lori placed her hand on Anna's shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. "Anna's had a rough go of things. She lost people recently."

A murmur of apologies rose up around her and she found herself caught in the gaze of the woman with the high cheekbones again. "If you ever want to talk, my sister Amy-" she gestured to the younger blonde girl beside her,"-and I have the tent right over there. My name's Andrea."

Anna hardly even had time to thank her as the introductions went on from there, each person giving her a small wave or smile in greeting. There was Glenn and T-Dog of course, followed by Dale with the fisherman's hat and Daryl who caught the squirrel. Morales and his family were beside him, along with Jim the mechanic, Carol, Ed and their daughter Sophia, and Jacqui. There was an elderly couple who opted to take their dinner in their tent, as well as a few others who she was told mostly kept to themselves.

"And Daryl's brother, Merle," Lori added after everyone else had been introduced.

"Too bad he's out chasing some mythical deer Glenn thinks he saw," T-Dog commented with a smirk. "Sure he would've made you feel welcome."

"Yeah, that's what we need," Shane scoffed. "Merle Dixon coming in here coked out of his mind and scaring her away."

Anna frowned. She had dealt with her share of drunks and drug addicts in the past, but she'd never really even considered what withdrawal would be like for someone in the state of the world as it was. Where could this Merle Dixon even find drugs these days? Did he really have that big of a stash beforehand to hold him over?

The sharp clatter of a bowl and spoon hitting the ground snapped Anna from her thoughts. When she looked up again, she saw that Daryl had tossed his utensils on the ground and was stomping his way back over to what she presumed was his tent.

"You know it upsets Daryl when you talk about his brother that way," Lori reminded Shane, who shrugged.

"Yeah, well it's the truth ain't it?" He turned back to Anna. "Don't you worry about Merle Dixon; I can handle him. But if you do decide to stay, it'd probably be best to keep your distance – from the both of them."

"You're not staying?" Carl half-shouted from beside his mother.

"I haven't decided yet…"

"Well," Dale added with a small smile. "We certainly hope you do. But Shane's right; it's probably a good idea to go ahead and stay clear of both those guys."

Another loud clatter caused Anna's attention to shift back to Daryl's retreating form, hardly more than a dark silhouette against the darkening sky. She could hear him muttering to himself as he kicked over something metal and she fought the urge to roll her eyes. Anna had no idea what this Merle was like, but she felt like she could wager a fairly decent guess. Besides, something told her Daryl Dixon had no interest in paying her any attention at all, and she had to say the feeling was mutual.

* * *

The RV bed was the most comfortable thing Anna had slept on since before she clocked in for her shift at Atlanta Medical Center all those weeks ago. Dale had graciously offered her the actual bed in the back as opposed to the makeshift one she'd woken up on earlier that day, but somehow sleep still eluded her. There was a dull throbbing in her shoulder that didn't seem to stop no matter how she twisted and turned, a constant reminder of her present situation. She'd popped some ibuprofen to help with the swelling but knew it was nothing more than a waiting game from that point forward. Though, if she was being honest, her shoulder wasn't the only thing keeping her awake. She couldn't stop the warring in her head as she tried to decide whether she should stay with Shane and Lori's group or head back out on her own.

Thus far, everyone had been more than gracious. From Glenn and T-Dog bringing her back to camp, to Shane and Lori patching her up, to how welcoming everyone had been at dinner and afterward, Anna knew she couldn't possibly ask for more and yet she still couldn't quell the uneasy churning in her stomach. Were they being _too_ gracious? What if their kindness was all a ruse and they were just waiting to gain her trust before turning on her just like the last group had? Or did they just want to keep her around for the value of her skills? She let out a frustrated sigh as she yanked the pillow from beneath her head and used it to cover her face. Was she being ridiculous? There hadn't been a single thing up to that point that had given her the least bit of cause for alarm; why was she still so afraid of these people?

As she watched the moonlight dance across the bedspread, Anna groaned. She knew she shouldn't be so reluctant to accept the help and relative security that came with being part of a group. Her lack of survival skills left her vulnerable and essentially helpless; she would have to be a fool to turn down an offer to link up with such a seemingly great group of people. But was this group too good to be true? Or was she just looking for a reason to say no because of her fear?

With a frown, Anna threw the covers off and scrambled off the bed. She didn't even bother to slip on the shoes Lori had given her – which she later learned came from Andrea, along with the clean clothes – and made her way toward the RV door. A gentle breeze caused strands of Anna's hair to blow across her face and she found goosebumps raised on her arms even though the night air was still warm and humid in the late Georgia summer. The grass was cool and slightly damp under her bare feet and it reminded her of summers long past when she and Alex would spend more time barefoot than not, chasing each other through the yard and catching lightning bugs in jars. She wondered what Alex would think of this little group of survivors and whether or not she would want to stay. She wished her sister was there to help her decide, but Anna knew there was no sense in wishing for something that would never be.

"Anna?"

The voice from somewhere up above her caused Anna to nearly jump straight out of her skin. Turning her gaze upward, she saw Dale leaning over the railing on the roof of the RV.

"What are you doing out here?"

"I couldn't sleep."

He nodded in understanding. "You want to come up? I just mixed up some instant coffee."

Anna pondered his offer for a moment before realizing she wasn't exactly doing anything else with her time. Her shoulder protested dully as she ascended the little ladder on the side of the RV but she ignored it. When she reached the top she saw that Dale had a camping chair set up along with a small camping stove and foldaway table, upon which sat two enamel mugs full of the aforementioned instant coffee. Dale moved to offer Anna his chair but she shook her head, opting instead to take a seat on the RV top with her back against the railing. When he held out one of the mugs to her, she took it gratefully.

For a while they sat in silence, Dale scanning the surrounding area through his binoculars every so often and Anna gazing off into the dark forest, the trees backlit by the glow of the moon in an otherwise clear sky. Anna knew this was the safest she had been since leaving the city. She didn't know exactly how far she had been from the camp when Glenn and T-Dog found her but even then, it had been a couple of days since she had crossed paths with one of the infected. There was a clear view of the road, though they were far enough away to not be easily spotted by anyone who may pass by. The lake obviously provided a sustainable source of water and they were near enough to the city to be able to scavenge there without having to travel too far of a distance. The setup was, by all accounts, ideal. And yet Anna still couldn't make up her mind.

"What's troubling you?" Dale asked after a long while.

Anna sighed. She was too tired to bother with weighing the pros and cons of evading the older man's question so she opted to be honest instead. "I'm trying to decide whether or not I should stay here."

"I see," Dale nodded slowly in understanding. "Well if you don't mind me asking, what's making you hesitate?"

Anna bit the inside of her cheek at his question. How could she tell this man that she was worried his group of seemingly friendly people would turn out to be a bunch of psychos?

Seeming to read her mind, Dale added, "Does it have to do with the group you were with before?"

"Yes," she said finally.

Dale nodded again. "Well, I don't think anyone can blame you for that. I won't pretend to know or understand what you've been through, but I do know it was dangerous business for a woman out there on her own before the world went to shit, and even more so now. Even the toughest and bravest need to rely on others sometimes."

"I wouldn't exactly call myself brave or tough," Anna replied with a roll of her eyes.

"No? Shane said you relocated that shoulder of yours and barely even flinched; I'd call that pretty tough. And the fact that you agreed to stay through the night even though you're clearly afraid? You don't think that's brave?"

Anna considered his question for a moment. To her, reducing her own shoulder wasn't the big deal everyone seemed to be making it out to be and it was certainly not something she would call herself "tough" for having done. In fact, Anna was the least brave or tough person she could possibly think of. She had always valued other attributes more – intelligence, loyalty, wit; all the things she felt did little to further her position in the new world they all found themselves living in. Brave and tough? Neither of those were characteristics she ever would have attributed to herself; they belonged to someone else she knew.

"My sister was brave," she countered. "And tough. It didn't save her in the end."

"Well, I didn't know your sister," Dale continued gently. "And those traits might not have saved her, but they could help save you. I know the word of a stranger probably doesn't mean too much, especially these days, but I can promise we'd do everything in our power to help keep you safe. I would lay down my life for anyone here in this camp."

He paused for a moment and Anna saw his lips quirk slightly. "Well, maybe not the Dixons. But definitely everyone else."

She couldn't help but let out a light laugh at that and in the back of her mind, she realized it had been a long time since she'd done so. It felt foreign against her lips, as though she had all but forgotten how to do it, but it was nice.

"All kidding aside," Dale told her seriously. "These are good people, Anna."

For a while Anna said nothing. She thought back to Carl's wide blue eyes and Lori's kind brown ones. She thought of Shane making a joke after she eviscerated his sling-making skills. She thought of Andrea offering to talk if she needed it and lending her clothes, of Carl's innocent questions and T-Dog's bantering. She tilted her head back and let the glow of the moon light up her face.

"Yeah," she said finally as the corners of her mouth turned upward. "I think so too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! Your hits, bookmarks, kudos and especially comments are a huge part of what makes writing this little story so wonderful. I'm so relieved and humbled that you guys are so excited about what's to come and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!


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